Speaking Archaeologically™

On a drive to Dharamshala via Gaggal, you would hardly recognise that your vehicle passed a place, where, once a Buddhist stupa existed. The site in the village of Chaitru was accidentally discovered, when the same road was being laid from Pathankot to Dharamshala in the early 1900s. The cutting of a mound for the construction of the road yielded a head of the Buddha (now in the possession of Lahore Museum, Pakistan) along with the remains of brick and pebble structures, red and micaceous redware pottery sherds and few terracotta and copper objects of Kushana Period(2nd to 3rd century CE). Image 1: The not so noticeable notice boards at the entrance which mention the name of site on a fading rusted board. The site locally known as Bhima ka Tila (or Bhima's Mound), is believed to be formed, when Bhima, one of the five Pandavas , dusted his feet here. The site, until the Archaeological Survey of India took over, hosted the annual village fair, which also featured wrestli...